764 



THE CATKIN FAMILY. 



Russian Asia, from the Mediterranean to the Arctic regions, 

 mon in Britain. Fl. early spring. 



Com- 



9. Tea-leaved Willow. Salix phylicifolia, Linn. (Fig. 918.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1146, 1213?, 1390, 1403, 1404, 1958, 2186, 2342, 2343, 



and 2344.) 



A bushy shrub, very variable in its 

 foliage, some of the larger forms com- 

 ing very near the Sallow, whilst the 

 smaller ones appear to pass gradually 

 into the whortle W. Young shoots and 

 leaves often downy, when old usually 

 glabrous. Leaves ovate -oblong or rarely 

 lanceolate, usually 1 to 2 inches long, 

 and pointed, not wrinkled, but the veins 

 rather prominent above, often toothed 

 at the edge, and glaucous or whitish 

 underneath, but not closely silky. Cat- 

 kins more slender and less silky than in 

 the Sallow; the males nearly sessile 

 with a few broad, or sometimes leafy 

 bracts at the base ; the females more 

 stalked, with the bracts more leafy 

 usually under an inch long when in 

 flower, 1 to 2 inches when in fruit. Capsules shortly stalked, glabrous 

 or silky or cottony-white, 2 to near 3 lines long when ripe. 



In woods, thickets, and waste places, near streams, in northern and 

 Arctic Europe and Asia, and in the mountain districts of central anc 

 southern Europe. In Britain, chiefly in northern England, in Scot- 

 land, and probably in Ireland. Fl. spring and early summer. Among 

 the numerous varieties published as species, often from specimens 

 transplanted from their native stations and altered by cultivation, two 

 forms are generally recognized as distinct types, S. nigricans, which 

 always turns black in drying and is usually larger, and S. phylicifolia, 

 which preserves its colour better and has usually a smaller and neater 

 foliage. 



10. Creeping Willow. Salix repens, Linn. (Fig. 919.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 183, S. argentea, t. 1364, S. arhuscula, t. 1366, S. pro- 

 strata, t. 1959, S.fusca, t. 1960, S. parvifolia,t. 1961, S. adscendens, 

 t. 1962.) 



A low, straggling shrub ; the stems creeping extensively under- 

 ground and rooting at the base, ascending to the height of about a foot 



Fig. 918. 



